More Marc-Andre Fleury Trade Trouble, Nate Schmidt in Play

It was reported on Monday that the Vegas Golden Knights were trying to get creative when it came to moving the contract of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Not wanting to retain salary on a deal, the Golden Knights were trying to think outside of the box when it came to sending the netminder to another team, including tossing in a second-round draft pick to sweeten the deal.

Related: Golden Knights Can’t Give Marc-Andre Fleury Away, Even With Sweetener

Apparently, news on Tuesday is that teams are balking at that. TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports on a recent Insider Trading segment that moving Fleury is the team’s priority. He notes, “That is the number one focus at the moment. They’ve been engaged with a number of different teams to act as a third-party broker to take or retain some of Marc-Andre Fleury’s salary.”

Reports are it’s not working. Seravalli adds, “But I’m told at this point, including one of the teams they’ve talked to in the Carolina Hurricanes, the price that the Vegas Golden Knights are willing to pay in order to have a team eat some of that salary so far remains way too low for those teams to be interested.” Seravalli notes the offer from the Golden Knights is still a second-round pick but teams are being asked to eat up to half of the salary ($3.5 million) so teams are looking for a first and a second rounder.

In other words, the Golden Knights have gone from a second for his full salary to reportedly offering a second-round pick for a team to take just half of Fleury’s salary. Still, teams want way more.

Teams Aren’t Looking to Bail Out Golden Knights

The Golden Knights are said to be looking at more creative ways to make this Fleury deal a reality and before they consider trading Paul Stastny, Johathan Marchessault or Nate Schmidt. Unfortunately, the team might not have a choice as rumors are the Golden Knights have already talked to teams about moving Schmidt.

Because the Golden Knights put themselves in this position by signing Robin Lehner, teams aren’t eager to help out the Golden Knights, nor should they be. In such a tight market, the only way this becomes worth it for the third party is to get handsomely rewarded for taking on money.

This is especially true if the end result of all of this is that the Golden Knights become an even stronger team by adding Alex Pietrangelo.

Next: Tyler Johnson Helping Tampa With Trade, Stamkos Added to Trade Board